Hiring hits fastest pace in almost 6 years

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. employers recently hiked their hiring to the fastest monthly pace in almost six years, a healthy sign for the U.S. labor market, according to government data released Tuesday morning.

There were 4.71 million hires in April -- the most since June 2008 – and up 6% from a year earlier and, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s most recent monthly look at labor-market churn. When the recession started at the end of 2007, there were about 5.04 million hires per month.

Tuesday’s data followed a promising labor-market report last week showing that the economy’s jobs growth this year has been faster than a year earlier.

And workers’ opportunities look to be improving, too. There were 4.46 million job openings in April – the most since September 2007 – up 17% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed dropped 17%, so workers face less competition for available spots.

Despite the good news, the data also signal that workers remain wary of giving up career stability by quitting their jobs for new opportunities. There were 2.47 million quits in April, down 12% from the start of the recession. Some reluctance to leave a secure position makes sense given the severe punishment for being out of work: about one-third of unemployed workers have been looking for a job for more than half a year. Also, workers may be unenthusiastic about the types of newly available jobs, with the economy adding many low paying spots in recent years.

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